If anyone knows a thing or two about healthy aging, it’s the Japanese. They live longer and better than anyone else on the planet, nearly five years longer than Americans on average.

So what’s the secret?

Aside from good genes, a low obesity rate and a diet rich in fatty fish, the Japanese have one habit that never quite caught on here: They drink green tea by the gallon.

Nearly every home and workplace has an electric kettle, always on and ready to brew some green tea — and new research out of Japan confirms again that those who drink the most, age the best.

The study of 14,000 Japanese seniors finds that the heaviest tea drinkers — those who gulp down five or more cups a day — are less likely to need help with everyday activities like getting dressed and bathing.

These tea-loving seniors are 33 percent less likely to suffer from “functional disabilities” than those who drink little to no tea.

People with more moderate tea consumption — two or three cups a day — can still get most of the benefit: They’re 25 percent less likely to suffer from functional disability than non-drinkers, according to the study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study didn’t look at why green tea drinkers are healthier and more independent, but this one’s a no-brainer: Green tea’s famous antioxidants have been shown to fight and even repair the DNA damage that comes from aging and disease.

One small study a couple of years ago found a 20 percent reduction in DNA damage after just a month of regular green tea consumption.

It’s practically a miracle in a mug, boosting your health from head to toe — and along with slashing your risk of functional disability, green tea can also help cut your odds of cancer, dementia, diabetes, depression, heart disease, osteoporosis and more.

Green tea drinkers even live longer, too (as the Japanese can testify).

There are lots of products that claim to have green tea — or green tea extract — in them, but skip all that and get yours the old-fashioned way: brew a cup fresh whenever you want some.

Senior moments aren’t just for seniors anymore.

Anyone can have a brain hiccup no matter how old or young they are — but the latest research shows that the cognitive slide we usually associate with aging actually begins earlier than anyone would have thought.

Much earlier.

And if you’re in your 40s, I got some bad news for you: Your brain may have already passed its peak, and it’s not getting any better from here unless you do something about it.

More on that in a moment — but first, the study that’s going to be hard to forget: A look at data on 5,200 men and 2,200 women who took part in the Whitehall II study of British civil servants finds that people begin a noticeable cognitive slide at the age of 45.

Over a 10-year period, men and women alike who were between 45 and 50 at the start of the study saw declines in every category except vocabulary, with an average drop of 3.6 percent in overall mental ability.

Men between 45 and 50 also experienced a 4 percent dip in reasoning and thinking skills during that 10-year period, while women saw a decline closer to 5 percent.

Obviously, older volunteers had even bigger drops — senior men suffered a 10 percent loss in thinking and reasoning, while senior women lost about 8 percent.

But the fact that younger people experienced any decline at all should be a wake-up call to take the actions now that can save your brain later — and that action should start with the simple B vitamins available at any health food store.

The Bs help control the most essential parts of brain function, everything from mood to muscles to memory — and if you boost your intake now, you can protect all three… especially that memory.

Studies have shown that seniors at risk of cognitive decline can slow, stop and even reverse the slide by upping their levels of B6, B12, and folate — but as the new study shows, you don’t want to wait until you’re a senior to start getting your Bs.

Start today… no matter how old — or young — you are.

Millions of seniors battle the three S’s in their later years: the stoop, the shakes, and the shuffle. And most docs will respond with their own S: the shrug as they tell you it’s just part of getting older.

Bull.

Just because you’re getting older doesn’t mean you have to sit back and tolerate a slow descent into feebleness — and now, a new study finds that the three S’s aren’t signs of aging.

They’re warning signs of something much more serious.

Researchers have been tracking some 1,100 aging priests and nuns since 1994, examining them for the “typical” signs of aging — like the three S’s — while they’re alive, and then studying their brains after death.

In autopsies of 418 of the volunteers who lived to an average age of 88, the researchers found a surprising number of microscopic brain lesions — including lesions in 30 percent of the patients who had never suffered a stroke or brain disease.

Those who had the most trouble walking in their final years often had multiple lesions, and two-thirds of the patients overall had at least one blocked blood vessel in the brain — leading researchers to conclude that these blockages may be the real cause of the three S’s.

The only problem here is that they’re so small they can’t be spotted in a living brain with any current technology — only under a microscope during an autopsy.

If it’s a warning, it’s a real quiet one — and if you think spotting these lesions is hard, treating them can be downright devastating: In many cases, the choice comes down to doing nothing, or undergoing a risky brain surgery that no senior wants to face.

Fortunately, emerging research has found that fatty acids can work wonders when it comes to brain injuries, especially the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) found in fish oil.

That’s no surprise, since more than half of your brain is fat, and one of the main fats in your brain is DHA.

Some studies have shown that this essential fatty acid can help improve patients who suffer from the types of brain lesions associated with cognitive decline, while other recent studies have found that DHA may help the brain to recover from traumatic injuries.

It’s too early to say whether fatty acid supplements can prevent or heal the types of brain lesions uncovered by the new study — but why wait? The omega-3s can help your brain, heart, eyes, and more — and unless you’ve got a pretty steady fatty fish habit, you should be taking this stuff anyway.

Sex doesn’t just get better with age — age gets better with sex, especially for women.

In fact, older women with satisfying sex lives have better lives overall — and that’s not just opinion; it’s a scientific fact.

Because when researchers interviewed 1,235 senior women in San Diego, they found that even the elderly can have satisfying sex lives — and when it comes to those later years, quality trumps quantity (but feel free to boost quantity just the same, it’s good for both of you).

Overall, the researchers say 31 percent of women in their 80s, 57 percent of women in their 70s, and 70 percent of women in their 60s reported at least one sexual encounter over the previous six months.

But regardless of how much sex they had, they all reported similar levels of moderate to high “sexual satisfaction” — mostly hovering around 60 percent.

And with sexual satisfaction came other forms of satisfaction: Those women with satisfying sex lives reported more happiness and a better quality of life than those with less sexual satisfaction.

The researchers also wrote in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society that as women got older, they were more likely to report problems with sexual arousal and desire — and of course, that’s music to the drug industry’s ears. (Cheesy 70s porn music, I’m sure.)

That’s because Big Pharma has been lusting after a so-called “female Viagra.” And while none of the drugs they’ve come up with have been approved for women (yet), that hasn’t stopped them from priming the market.

And as I’ve told you before, some of the tactics they’ve used have been downright underhanded.

Don’t fall for it.

In many cases, female sex problems are caused by drug side effects, especially in older women. In other cases, it could just be one of the signs of aging as hormone levels drop — but not the ones you’re thinking of.

Testosterone is often considered a male hormone, but women need it too. Older women who get a boost often see dramatic improvements in their sex lives.

If you’re having problems with arousal and desire, don’t wait for Big Pharma to come out with a sex med. Visit a naturopathic physician who has experience working with hormones.

Then tell your husband to get ready.